Sausage and Sawdust Passage Worksheet
PHONICS PARTNERS • DECODABLE PASSAGE
Sausage & Sawdust
Target Digraphs: aw (orange) and au (blue/indigo)
UNIT 4 • LESSON 3
Student Name:
Date:
Syllable Division Warm-Up
Clap out and divide these complex words into syllables before reading. Notice how the vowel teams aw and au stay together in their syllables!
2 Syllables
au · thor
2 Syllables
sau · sage
2 Syllables
haul · ing
4 Syllables
cau · li · flow · er
2 Syllables
awk · ward
2 Syllables
saw · dust
2 Syllables
draw · ing
3 Syllables
lawn · ma · ker
Paul’s Wild Invention
Paul is a famous author, but his real joy is building things in his messy backyard workshop. One sunny day, Paul decided to build a lawn maker—a clever robot helper designed to trim and cut his green lawn.
First, Paul sat at his old workbench drawing the plans. He spent all morning hauling heavy sheet metal, long pipes, and logs of wood inside. The sawing got messy, and he soon ended up with sticky wood shavings and sawdust clinging to his hair and clothes!
By noon, Paul’s stomach began to rumble. He wanted to cook a tasty, spiced sausage on the stove. But his new robot was hungry, too! The robot made a loud clanging sound and took an awkward step forward. It bypassed the oil can and grabbed a fresh cauliflower right off the kitchen counter!
With a sudden beep, the mechanical beast began to crawl quickly out the door. It made one clumsy, rattling turn and tipped right over into the grass! It was indeed an awkward start, but Paul knew his machine was destined to be a masterpiece.
DIGRAPH DETECTIVES SERIES • SAUSAGE & SAWDUST PAGE 1 OF 2
Sausage & Sawdust Activities
Complete the tasks below using details from the decodable story.
CHALLENGE SHEET
1. Digraph Detective Search
Find words in the story containing the aw and au spellings. Write them in the correct column!
Words with aw (like lawn)
Words with au (like author)
2. Text-Dependent Comprehension Questions
Q1 Who is Paul, and what special invention did he decide to build in his workshop?
Q2 Why was building the machine messy? Mention at least one detail from the text.
Q3 Describe what the robot ate and what it did when it tried to go out onto the lawn.
BONUS Let's break down cauliflower. How many syllables does it have? Write it in parts.
Syllables:
Syllable Division:
DIGRAPH DETECTIVES SERIES • SAUSAGE & SAWDUST PAGE 2 OF 2
Sausage and Sawdust Teacher Guide
TEACHER INSTRUCTIONAL COMPANION
Sausage & Sawdust Guide
Pedagogical Strategies, Lesson Blueprint & Official Answer Key
TEACHER PREP
Phonics Rule & Generalization
Both au and aw represent the same vowel phoneme /ɔ/ (as in caught/saw). Explain to students that au is typically used in the middle of a syllable or base word (e.g., author, sausage, hauling), while aw is usually found at the end of a word/syllable (e.g., lawn, crawl) OR in the middle before letter n, l, or k (e.g., drawing, sawdust, awkward).
Key Objectives
- Isolate and read 10 target words.
- Divide multi-syllable words accurately.
- Retrieve literal story details.
30-Minute Lesson Delivery Plan
01. WARM-UP (5 MIN)
Do the Syllable Warm-Up. Model splitting words. Clap the syllables together: cau·li·flow·er (4) and lawn·ma·ker (3).
02. FIRST READ (10 MIN)
Choral-read the passage. Ask students to run their finger under color-coded digraph spans to physically track the au and aw parts.
03. DETECTIVE (5 MIN)
Instruct students to hunt for the target words and fill them into their sorted column grids on Page 2, focusing on spelling.
04. CHECK-UP (10 MIN)
Students complete questions independently. Debrief by reviewing the multi-syllable bonus breakdown for cauliflower.
Official Activity & Worksheet Answer Key
Words with aw Key
• lawn
• lawn maker
• drawing
• sawdust
• crawl
• awkward
Words with au Key
• author
• hauling
• sausage
• cauliflower
Q1 Key Who is Paul & what did he build?
Paul is a famous author. He decided to build a "lawn maker"—a special robot helper designed to trim and cut his grass.
Q2 Key Why was it messy?
It was messy because the wood sawing left sticky wood shavings and sawdust all over his hair and clothes.
Q3 Key Robot action & food choice?
The robot grabbed a fresh raw cauliflower instead of eating fuel/oil. When it tried to crawl onto the lawn, it tipped over into the grass clumsily.
